Lieutenant Governor To Seek Top State Post

Groark Will Seek State's Top Post

Lt. Gov. Eunice S. Groark announced Tuesday that she would follow in the footsteps of her 1990 running mate, Gov. Lowell P. Weicker Jr., by launching a third-party candidacy for governor.

Less than a week after Weicker said he would not seek a second term, Groark told a crowd of more than 200 supporters, including the governor, that she would seek to continue the work of the 3-year-old administration, praising its third-party leadership as a needed alternative to the two major parties.

"A vote to continue the nonpartisan course set by this administration will be a vote for Connecticut and her future," said Groark, a former Republican, while announcing her A Connecticut Party candidacy at the state Capitol.

With Groark's announcement, state politicians will once again have to contend with the peculiarities of a three-way gubernatorial race. Leading Democratic and Republican politicians, however, said Groark will not be nearly the factor that Weicker was, although Groark supporters said they believe she can win in a state that is open to independent candidates.

Groark, 55, a lawyer and Hartford resident, did not mention specific issues she would address as governor, other than to say that the state has to keep businesses here and provide good jobs for its workers.

Wild cheering and a two-minute ovation greeted Groark when she entered the Old Judiciary Committee Meeting Room, accompanied by her husband, Thomas, and one of her three daughters, Virginia. She gave the thumbs-up sign, shook hands and waved to the crowd, which included state officials, A Connecticut Party members, former legal colleagues and friends.

Shortly after the clapping subsided, Weicker, an imposing physical and political presence, entered the room. Except for offering a short endorsement, he remained, uncharacteristically, to the side and rear of the rostrum, as he watched another politician take center stage.

"In pursuit of the independence so necessary to the recovery of

the state, the Connecticut Party could not have a finer standard bearer," Weicker said.

Politicians close to Weicker said the governor will help Groark, who hopes to tap into the governor's political and financial support to gain name recognition and voter backing. She is expected to win the A Connecticut Party nomination.

Although Groark, as lieutenant governor, has taken a back seat to Weicker, her statutory role has put her in the spotlight. In 1991, she cast the tie-breaking vote in the state Senate in favor of a personal income tax, and this year she broke another Senate tie to help gain passage of a ban on the retail sale of semiautomatic assault weapons.

Before signing on with Weicker, Groark spent three years as the corporation counsel, or top lawyer, for the city of Hartford. She served on the Hartford city council from 1981 to 1985 and was the losing Republican mayoral candidate in the city in 1985.

Groark and her supporters rejected notions that she would be a spoiler candidate, a third-place finisher who might steer the election to one of the major party candidates.

"I don't think anybody can use the traditional yardstick of Democrat or Republican to know how people will vote anymore," said Thomas J. D'Amore Jr., Weicker's former co-chief of staff. "People have shown a willingness to do things differently."

Democratic and Republican state party chairmen predicted Groark would finish third, but said her impact would be difficult to assess until she becomes better known.

Both men, however, took opposite views concerning the source of Groark's political support.

Republican State Chairman John A. Mastropietro said Groark would pull votes from the Democratic candidate, based on Weicker's popularity with that party. Democratic State Chairman Edward L. Marcus said Groark, a former Republican, would garner many GOP votes.

Groark joins a gubernatorial sweepstakes that includes two Democrats -- state Senate President Pro Tem John B. Larson, D-East Hartford, and state Sen. Richard J. Balducci, D-Newington. Two other Democrats, state Comptroller William E. Curry Jr. and former utility commissioner Clifton A. Leonhardt, are considering running.

On the Republican side, U.S. Rep. Nancy L. Johnson, R-6th District; former U.S. Rep. John G. Rowland; Secretary of the State Pauline R. Kezer; and Joel Schiavone, the 1990 Republican comptroller candidate, all are weighing candidacies